TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – AUG 29
0070 The Temple of Jerusalem burns after a nine-month Roman siege.
1533 In Peru, the Inca chief Atahualpa is executed by orders of Francisco Pizarro, although the chief had already paid his ransom.
1758 1st indian reservation established
1776 General George Washington retreats during the night from Long Island to New York City.
1786 Shays’s rebellion, an insurrection of Massachusetts farmers against the state government, began.
1842 The Treaty of Nanking was signed, ending the Opium Wars and ceding the island of Hong Kong to Britain.
1864 William Huggins discovers chemical composition of nebulae
1885 Gottlieb Daimler receives German patent for a motorcycle
1896 Chop suey invented in NYC by chef of visiting Chinese Ambassador
1949 USSR explodes its first atomic bomb, “First Lightning.”
1952 In the largest bombing raid of the Korean War, 1,403 planes of the Far East Air Force bomb Pyongyang, North Korea.
1957 US Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1957 after Strom Thurmond (Sen-D-SC) ends 24-hour filibuster, the longest in Senate history, against the bill.
1986 Morocco’s King Hassan II signs unity treaty with Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, strengthening political and economic ties and creating a mutual defense pact.
1992 Thousands of Germans demonstrate against a wave of racist attacks aimed at immigrants.
2003 A terrorist bomb kills Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, and nearly 100 worshipers as they leave a mosque in Najaf where the ayatollah had called for Iraqi unity.
2005 Hurricane Katrina makes 2nd and 3rd landfall as a category 3 hurricane, devastating much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida Panhandle. Kills more than 1,836, causes over $115 billion in damage.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
